Bless Unleashed revealed that it is going to implement some changes once the open beta arrives. These changes are based on the feedback obtained from the closed beta test. In particular, the changes involve the game's combat system, abilities, and the lock on cameras and controls.
In terms of the gameplay, there were three points that Lead Designer Jeomsul Park focused on in a recent blog post from Bless Unleashed's website. The first was on the combat and movement speed. particularly these speeds were too slow and at times felt sluggish. Aside from the delay between the player input and character reaction, there was also the issue of the characters moving too slowly when in combat. Still on combat, many of the testers said that there was not enough chances to cancel out of actions to evade enemy attacks during combat.
Another issue looked into was that it was difficult to determine what abilities need resources and how to get those resources. There was also the problem of some abilities, especially those having movement components, that were truly difficult to use properly. The third point, according to Park, was the need to improve the lock on function and controls. There were players who thought that the lock-on control was really difficult to use. Players also had difficulty with aiming attacks and pressing the attack button.
Park said that the team took the time to address these issues and that it was not an easy task. While the combat speed was increased, it was important to fine tune the balance. For example, in many action games attacks that offer high damage generally have longer animation or take longer to perform. This cost is considered valuable since it feels more exciting if a player lands a heavy blow and deals a lot of damage.
The changes made to combat include:
- Combo steps now easily connect with dodge which means that there are now more opportunities to dodge enemy attacks.
- Lower tier combo attacks are now faster which results in lowering the delay between player input and character attack.
- However, big attacks that deal large amounts of damage continue to have longer animations.
- Movement speed was generally increased. Both dodge range and speed have also been increased.
- True sprinting has been implemented and no longer puts a player into combat and slows them down.
- The ability for normal monsters to interrupt the combos of players have been minimized which gives players more freedom.
- This lowers the threat offered by lower tier monsters and allow players to feel more powerful when fighting enemies of this type.
For the abilities, Bless Unleashed improved the way some abilities chain into combos. This lets players use abilities provided by Blessing to be used during critical stages of combat. In order to make the experience better for players, the following changes were made:
- Abilities can now be used to interrupt combos.
- What this means is that if a skill is used during a combo, the skill now takes precedence over a combo move that has already been queued.
- The power of most abilities have been increased.
- The abilities granted to new characters are more appealing than before.
- The animation time up front on most abilities has been lowered.
- This is to minimize the delay between the command to use an ability and the ability firing off.
- Reviewed and reworked many of the animations of the unique skills.
- Added new unique skills to the Crusader and Berserker.
- Made improvements so that targeted move skills like the Berserker’s leap are more reliable.
Finally, regarding the lock on camera and controls for the game, the team at Bless Unleashed revealed that they took this concern seriously. The team looked at how other games implemented lock on cameras and experimented on different control schemes. After reviewing player feedback and discussing these issues internally, the team took these steps:
- The functionality of the target lock on feature has been improved and the reference points of targets changed while fixing the camera’s POV based on monster size.
- The lock on feature automatically selects the closest target, but it can be changed by moving the R stick while selecting the target.
- The target aim box can now be applied differently for melee and ranged classes to account for their different viewpoints.
- A new control scheme has been created which is set as default. This should alleviate some of the difficulties trying to use the R-Stick and Face buttons for combat, as the changes have shifted the attack buttons to the triggers.
Finally, the team said that they are continuing to work on the balance of the game and hopes that the open beta offers a quick, smooth, and pleasant experience.
